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Pictures at an exhibition |

Pictures at an exhibition My time as digital image editor at Copy Shop News is relatively short, no more than seven years. I have had an existence in exhibitions over nearly thirty years. My introduction was as an enthusiast, queuing with thousands of others at a motorcycle show in the desperately small Horticultural Halls in Westminster in the early seventies. It was literally bursting at the seams because the two wheel industry at the time - caught between the demise of the British factories and oriental machines imported by concessionaires - had nothing to offer its potential audience, without the foresight to see the potential, or the resources to develop it.
Now it hosts a massive annual show, at the NEC, with six figure attendance, but it has taken some rocky years, and lots of political shinanigens to get it there. I had some ivolvement there, as a journalist, commentator, promoter and organiser so I feel I can comment with some experience on events, even if I don't have a lifetime background in the digital print industry.
Exhibition organisers have a hard time, even though, like estate agents, it's hard to feel sympathy when things look good. The dilemma is that in order to fill an exhibition hall you need two basic things - the exhibitors, and the visitors. To get the latter, you need the right formula of the former.
The compromising situation is that often those who want or are able to pay may not in themselves make up a creditable event and thus be enticing enough to attract the necessary audience. It's a question of balance which all organisers must juggle with.
In the case of the motorcycle industry, it is very simple now, as a dealer there is one major show which you need to attend.
The digital print industry is that much broader, but the picture is much more confusing, with maybe half a dozen events which are significant and have some interest, but for a busy shop proprietor, the choice of when to spend valuable time away from the counter is a difficult one.
This is because all of the contributing items of copy shop goodies come from several different directions - not simple print, but signage, sublimation, transfer and all the many forms of placing images and information on product display.
Few of us busy beavers have the time or inclination to visit all of the advertised events which might hold something of interest for a modern digital print outlet. It is necessary to be selective.
It will be interesting to see if the newly titled Total Print World in October lives up to its ambitious strap line. That's certainly quite a challenge for an exhibition that in recent years appeared to be tightening its belt rather than expanding its girth. We wish them well though as the industry needs a comprehensive showcase.
It will need a leap of faith and financial clout of some magnitude to draw all of the many aspects of digital printing under one roof, but it would be an invaluable addition to the calendar. The cross-over of information between different disciplines is vital in the digital age as developments in one inevitably have consequences in another.
I have a bias towards photogaphy naturally, but I have found one of the most professionally useful events one of the smallest. Nikon's Digital Expo is a cosy experience compared to the open expanses of Oympia or the NEC, and has now become a three venue road show.
With more than just cameras and lenses, it has additional support from Adobe, Apple, Epson, HP and Mitsubishi to name major players, and an essential part of the programme is both practical demonstrations of how to approach digital photography, and really informative seminars on practical matter of image management and printing.
It's the refreshing mixture of trade and public that works well, blending the enthusiasm of the amateur hobbyist with the practical knowledge of the hard nosed professionals - a great leveller for any trade exhibitor striving to find a happy balance. It's a time when marketing people actually do come face to face with customers who have bought their product, and heaven help them if the PR hype does not match the purchasing experience of the public.
I often think that an interesting exercise for a digital print trade show would be to bus in a load of average copy shop customers and see how the men in suits handled them.
The disarming thing about dealing with the public is that, as I have mentioned before, you never know whether you are about to engage in conversation with an out and out egg head, or a complete idiot. Often deciding which is which may take some time and patience.
The great thing about the unpredictability of the general customer is that he or she is never beyond asking a completely daft question, too obvious for the specialist, but which may in the answering provide some gems of previously untold truth. In the precious atmosphere of a trade only show, no one would be so bold as to suggest the emperor might not be wearing clothes.
I could write pages, and maybe will one day, of all the silly things customers have said to me over the last seven years, but out of them all on balance the challenge of explaining or justifying a certain product, price or process is character forming.
As much as the impatience of print on demand can be wearisome, the process of continual challenge to established wisdom and ways of working can be constructive. It's a matter of finding that balance and not getting completely buried by the more destructive aspects of the job, or alternatively simply burying a customer. |
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